


Day #26: Daydream

by Accal1a



Series: December Nickels Insanity [26]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux, Sidewinder Series - Abigail Roux
Genre: Daydreaming, Gen, Pre-Canon, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-07 14:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16855783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/pseuds/Accal1a
Summary: Sidewinder think about life when they're no longer in service.





	Day #26: Daydream

The look that Owen gave Digger was exactly the same as the one Nick gave Kelly and Ty gave Eli. It was a look that said 'this was it'. It said that they weren't getting out of this, that they were going to be casualties of war across the globe, on a mission so dark that even the fact that there had been six casualties would be redacted. 

It would be like they'd never been there at all. 

~~~

Six hours later, they were all still in shock. 

None of them knew how they'd got out of that kill box. It was impossible that they were still alive, and yet here they were. 

Owen had been shot; Eli had a sprained ankle; and Nick was pretty sure his shoulder was dislocated. _There was no fucking way they should be alive._

Kelly had been sewing up Owen's side as they'd been moving, which really wasn't something he would have suggested or condoned from anyone, but there was no freaking _time_ for them to put him down. 

Digger had been supporting Owen, Ty had been supporting Eli, and they had both been somehow covering their sixes at the same time. Nick had been on point, despite his injury.

_There was absolutely no fucking way they should be alive._

When they had finally got to camp and people had run out to meet them, taking the wounded away, Digger and Ty had just sat down where they were, utterly shell-shocked. The adage that there were no atheists in foxholes was true.

There was no other explanation for it. They were being looked after.

~~~

Ty watched as he gave his report to his superior officers. There was a moment when he started explaining the final portion of the mission, where he could see the surprise in these normally unflappable men. _They_ didn't even know how Sidewinder had managed it.

If Ty was honest, if he'd been receiving this report from a subordinate, he would be considering the possibility that the person was making the event seem more dangerous than it was, either to garner accolades or to look tougher than they were. He knew how it sounded.

Stuck in an area, held down by enemy fire, taking casualties and completely unable to get free, they should have been overrun at any moment. 

Ty couldn't even give a proper estimation of what happened. There had been an explosion, he was 90% sure it hadn't been them that had caused it, though he couldn't discount a lucky shot hitting a tank of accelerant. All he knew was that the explosion had stopped the firefight long enough that they could bug out, still taking shots and hoping they could get far enough away to regroup.

When Owen had been shot, Ty had thought that would have been it. They had to stop for precious moments to assess the damage. By all rights that should have been the end.

Then Eli was hurt.

Then Nick.

Then Kelly did some field surgery that Ty was going to make damn sure he got a commendation for now they were back.

Ty and no fucking idea how he and Digger had helped their brothers _and_ held off the enemy but they had. 

He had no idea how Nick had even carried on firing with a dislocated shoulder. The recoil must have been agony.

"Anything else?"

Ty shook his head, but didn't speak, didn't even address the man's rank. It would have been enough to get at least a dressing down on a normal day, but today wasn't a normal day. His superior could see that it wasn't done out of disrespect, more out of a bone weary tiredness that meant no more brain cells could be expended. He'd given that look more than once to his own superiors.

"Thank you, Sergeant."

His rank finally registered with Ty, but he still only barely remembered to give a salute before he left the command tent.

_How the fuck were they alive?_

~~~

Kelly had been shooed out of the med bay after he'd forgotten how to string up an IV. A corporal whose name he couldn't remember had carefully taken the bag of saline from his hands and gently pushed him out of the door.

It was only when he was standing out in the camp again, with no patients in front of him; no fire fight in progress; and no mission weighing down on him, that his brain seemed to catch up.

Digger appeared seemingly out of nowhere and caught Kelly as his legs gave way and they did a controlled fall to the floor, ending up in a tangle of limbs.

"I think I'm in shock." Kelly said matter-of-factly.

"Ditto." Digger replied.

There wasn't anything else to say.

~~~

Nick and Eli got out of the med bay in fairly short order for their physical ailments. 

Nick cursed up a blue streak when his shoulder was popped back in, but flat out refused medication afterwards, which was par for the course.

Eli spent the majority of the time in the med bay trying to convince them that they didn't need to cut his boot off, that he'd just worn these boots in and he didn't want to start a new pair; and then finally been thrown out when he'd chucked the destroyed boot at an unsuspecting Private.

They collected Kelly and Digger from the floor, and they retreated to a relatively quiet area of the camp to wait for Ty to turn up and also to hear news about Owen. They knew he wasn't seriously injured, knew it could have been so much worse, knew there was nothing they could do but wait; but it was still frustrating to have to sit there and wait with no news.

~~~

Ty actually turned up, several hours later, with Owen's arm slung around his shoulder.

"Should he be…" Four voices said in unison.

"He's shot, not deaf." Owen griped. "In any case, Six sprung me."

"Should you have…" The four voices started again.

"No, I thought I'd do it against all medical judgement." Ty said tiredly.

There was a silence.

"Oh fuck you guys. _No_ , I did not just try and kill Ozone!"

The silence got heavier and it was only broken by Owen's pained gasp as he managed to sit down. They were all trying not to think about how close they had got to Owen actually being dead.

They watched the camp without seeing it, not speaking to each other, content to merely be in each other's presence, to just live and be with their brothers. No-one bothered them. They didn't know if that was because they had been told not to, or whether it was just the way that their fellow marines would know that they needed time to regroup. Either way, they were grateful.

After several hours, Nick broke the silence. 

"I can't wait for that cushy desk job at the Pentagon." He felt rather than saw the looks his brothers gave him and he smiled. "What? You don't think of that sweet government desk job and pension sometimes?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Kelly piped up. "I think about working in paediatrics sometimes. Or something with kids any way, doing good, you know?"

They all hummed in agreement, they could see Kelly doing that.

"I can't see you riding a desk," Kelly said to Nick, "but definitely helping people. Maybe a cop?"

Nick immediately rebelled against the idea, knowing just how dirty some cops could be. He did like helping people though, and just because some cops were bad didn't mean that he had to be. Kelly often came out with things like this that you hadn't yourself thought of, but that were so on the nose you had no idea why you hadn't before. He'd definitely think about it.

He smiled at Kelly, feeling like they'd just had a whole conversation to themselves without even speaking.

Kelly smiled back, nodding.

"I'm going to rob banks." Digger said, completely deadpan.

"There's something wrong with you." Owen said, though he was laughing gingerly as he said it. 

"You know it!" Digger cried, laughing along with his friend. "What will you do?"

Owen shrugged, and then winced. "This is the only thing I've ever been good at."

There were some general protests from his team mates, but he waved them down.

"I just mean, if I'm good at this, why wouldn't I keep doing it? But when I have to stop? Maybe private security."

They all nodded. It fit.

"I want to do something with the law. I was pre-law before I joined up…I'd like to get back to that. Not sure what sort of law though." Eli offered.

"You were pre-law?" Nick asked.

"Yup. Never wanted to do anything but be a lawyer, but then…you know…the world is a scary place. It suddenly didn't seem like enough. So I enlisted."

They all nodded. They could all understand that need to help others, to protect others. It was why they were all there.

"Do you think we really could do all that though?" Ty asked after several minutes of silence.

"Why not?" Nick asked, but he knew the answer. He felt the same way most of the time.

"I've been a marine since I was old enough I even _could_ be a marine. I don't know if I even know how to be anything else." Ty replied.

They all lapsed into silence again after that.

It was all very well having a daydream about civilian life, but there was no guarantee they'd get there, if today's clusterfuck was anything to go by…and no guarantee civilian life would want them even if they did.

It was a sobering thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Come and visit the [Cut & Run Discord Server](https://discord.gg/vvy6c76) and join us as we discuss/scream about this awesome series.


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